Since February 7, 2023, several suspected cases with symptoms of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever have been declared in Equatorial Guinea in districts of Kie-Ntem province. On February 13, 2023, the first Marburg epidemic was declared by confirmation of a positive sample. Several contact cases are to be traced and Cameroon has recorded suspect cases since 9th February in areas bordering Equatorial Guinea.
Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea share a 189 km long border. On both sides of this border, live the Ntumu populations, who are part of the Fang group. They are established in the North-West of Gabon, also on the other side of the border in the South of Cameroon and in the East of Equatorial Guinea. They are found in Cameroon in the Ntem valley, in the districts of Kyé-Ossi, Ambam, Olamze and Ma’an. Despite their different historical backgrounds, these populations still share fraternal and cultural ties (funeral rites, traditional ceremonies, etc.), economic (trade) and social ties that punctuate their daily life.
Faced with the high risk of spread of the disease, the local administrative authorities have restricted the movement of populations at the Cameroon – Equatorial Guinea border and activated the incident management system throughout the region.
Why your National Society is acting now and what criteria is used to launch this operation.
In collaboration with the teams of Equatorial Guinea, the Ministry of Public Health, with the support of its partners, has updated its response plan and defined the axes of emergency intervention to prevent the risk of a spread of the disease in Cameroon.
Over the years, the localities of Kye-Osi and Ambam, with 47,127 and 62,000 inhabitants respectively, which are crossroads border towns for Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, have emerged as the two major hubs of meetings which primarily mobilize the populations of the three countries mentioned above, of the Central African sub-region and beyond. It is worth noting that in most of these localities, poaching is a common practice.
There are significant movements of people and goods at the Cameroon – Equatorial Guinea border. This flow is irregular despite the measures taken by the administrative authorities at local and national level, the border of the two countries remains porous. In recent years, clandestine trails have developed and hundreds of people travel there every day.
The risk of human-to-human transmission is very high considering the flow of exchanges between the two countries, despite the restriction measures put in place. Moreover, with the incubation time of 21 days often, contact cases can spread quickly. Especially considering that early in the disease, the clinical diagnosis of MVD is difficult to distinguish from that of many other febrile tropical illnesses due to the similarity of clinical symptoms.
The above facts and feeding practices in the southern region require early action to prevent disease risks. Early case detection is essential.